I. Introduction
Globalisation, represented in the changes of socio-economic and political condition, has radically shifted not only the nature and practices of business and industrial organisations but also those in a non-profit sector including educational organisations. Giddens (1999) and Held (as cited in Lauder et al., 2006) considered globalisation as a spatial transformation from local to interregional networks which causes wide changes and modifications in every aspect of human life. In education sector, globalisation inevitably challenges educators to revisit their current educational paradigm, structures and practices. These rapid changes have also influenced and created more complexity in managing educational systems especially in managing and developing the human resources of the schools who are expected to be more prepared for more complex and competitive environments. In response to this, the HRM function in the schools is also becoming more critical in facilitating teachers and staff to develop their knowledge and expertises required to encounter the emergent challenges as well as achieving the desired organisational objectives.
Pertaining to the above issues, this paper will highlight some of key environmental variables that are currently changing in schools or educational organisations including the internationalisation of education; the education as economic competitiveness; and the workplace diversity in the schools. In particular, the paper also discusses the impacts and influences of these changes on the HRM function in the education sector.
II. Current Education Trends and Their Impacts on Human Resources Management (HRM) Function
One of the critical issues facing most organisations including those in education sector today is how they are able to meet the greater stakeholders’ expectation while at the same time dealing with the emergent challenges. In response to this, schools are not only required to possess a clear-strategic direction and effective management system but also quality human resources that inevitably call for serious reconsideration of the HRM function in the schools.
a. Internationalisation of Education
Globalisation has changed the basic nature of learning process and promotes commoditisation of education that shapes learning different from its traditional form (Kenway as cited in Green, 2006). In the last few decades, educational organisations have become more progressive and interconnected either nationally or internationally. The rapid growth of information and communication technology and the intensity of international education meetings and conferences have facilitated most schools to develop globalised education policies and involve in globalised education practices indicated by the prevalence of internationalisation of education from primary to further education levels.
This educational transformation, from local to global education, has called on the schools to reconceptualise not only the pedagogical philosophy, knowledge, and skills but also importantly global understanding of their teachers and staff. Learning is no longer constrained by time and space that undoubtedly invites teachers and staff to allocate more time, efforts and global awareness in accomplishing their duties. According to Snowball (2007) the teachers and staff who are eligible to teaching international standard school are expected to possess a number of competencies including understanding the international context of education; valuing the students’ differences; and being reflective practitioners who continuously evaluate the effects of their choices and actions. In addition, in international education the learning standard should consider the market competitiveness and interdisciplinary issues that raise student’s global awareness (Lauder et al., 2006).
Considering the above complex issues, the roles and responsibilities of the HRM in schools are also getting more complex and central. In globalised education context, the HRM is expected not only to deal with more complex issues such as multiple information sources and legal requirements, workplace diversity, recruitment, remuneration or to develop teachers and staff’s knowledge and skills in their areas (Nankervis, 2008; Swanson & Holton, 2009; Stone, 2011) but importantly also build globalised mindset of the teachers and staff. The HRM should ensure that its programs and policies go along with the current globalisation challenges as well as promoting employee including teachers and staff to possess broader and multiple perspectives indicated by the flexibility of their behaviours, sensitivity to the diversity and persistence in facing any emergent issues (Rhinesmith, 1993).
To develop global mindset of the employee, firstly the HRM should be wary that the slogan “Act locally but think globally” is getting more relevant to describe the need of global understanding in accomplishing any duties and given assignments. Evans, et al. (2002) and Stone (2011) indicated that the increased level of intercultural interaction in international organisations requires the employees or staff to have better global perspectives and understanding in their practices without which the organisations will be unable to meet the customers or students’ needs and; therefore, the desired organisational objectives will be difficult to achieve.
One of the attempts to promote teachers and staff’s global understanding is trough international transfers and assignments such as teachers or staff’s exchange program. In globalised education trend, the HRM should view cross-border assignments not only as the inevitable demand of current schools’ practices but also as a part of learning process that should be seriously considered accordingly. Evans et al., (2002) asserted that international assignments may develop a number of different aspects of global perspectives of the employees including; fostering integrative leadership skills, developing cross-border and complex conflict management skills, developing skills in managing workplace diversity, developing global networks for easier and up to date information access.
Other strategies that are useful in developing global mindset are through organising ongoing professional development or trainings specifically aimed at improving global mindset and creating environment that facilitates global mindset development. A training program particularly through team or group focused activities can be an effective means of developing global mindset as employees engage in idea exchanges and problem solving (Evans et al., 2002). To gain effective results, the problems and activities involved in the trainings should represent the actual problems and practices usually encountered by the organisation which refers to action learning. Yorks (2005) indicated that action learning is an effective approach of developing people through utilisation of actual projects or problems as away to learn.
Meanwhile, in developing supporting environment for global mindset, it is imperative that the top management of the schools including board of the school, the directors, or school leaders initiate the global mindset and articulates this into the schools vision, strategic plan as well as daily school operations. The absence of global perspective among the school leaders will hamper the creation of supporting environment that may disrupts the effectiveness of the existing global mindset programs in the schools. Evans et al., (2002) noted that successful acceptance of the global mindset within any organisations requires strong commitment across the different elements of the organisation particularly those in the top management position. They further argued that developing global mindset requires supporting environment with the following characteristics; solid communication network; extensive coordination communication, clear roles and responsibilities, empowerment linked with accountability, global leadership development and common culture and values believed by the organisations.
b. Education as Economic Competitiveness: The New Paradigm
The advent of cutting-edge technologies such as computer, internet, email, and other communication softwares and devices has driven many changes including the economic system. In this particular sector, these changes bring about competitiveness both in terms of employment availability as well as competition among organisations (Nankervis, 2008; Stone, 2011). Business and industries activities are no longer controlled by geographical and cultural isolation. Accordingly, to survive in highly competitive environment, an individual must possess particular skills and professionalism to compete with other people from other regions and countries. Likewise, an organisation must also have quality and professional human resources to meet the business challenges either nationally or globally (Stone, 2011).
Education as economic competitiveness is a growing paradigm that considers education as an important investment which enables people to compete and success in their economy life (Bernanke, 2007). Education is expected to provide better opportunities for students to be prepared for economic competition. The trend of the global economy in the future is predicted to be much more challenging where brain workers are predicted to dominate the economic competition referred to the knowledge economy system (Lauder, et al., 2006). Driven by this belief,the education philosophy is shifted and relied on the education gospel spawn from the economic perspectives that indubitably challenges today school practices and efforts.
In response to this greater expectation, the schools particularly the HRM should also be wary that the concept of organisational learning has become increasingly relevant to organisation success.Swanson and Holton (2009) asserted that lifelong learning has become vital to the success of current organisations including schools where rapidly changing information technologies and current education practices require that teachers and staff to possess the knowledge and skills essential to cope with the emergent challenges. In changing environment, learning and education of the human resources has become the main factor that enables organisations to change their employee behaviour and improve their working performances (Lawrie, 1990).
Considering its enormous advantages, it is important that the HRM in the schools put greater attention on the organisational learning. According to Dixon (1994), organisational learning can be viewed as the deliberate use of learning process at the individual, group and particularly system level to continuously move the organisations in a direction that is increasingly satisfying its stakeholders’ expectation. Since it is generally emphasised on the system level of the schools, organisational learning is embedded in the schools’ culture, systems, and daily operation. Accordingly, organisational learning can be seen as the characteristics of organisations that allow organisations to be more adaptable, resilient and agile to the changing environment including the greater expectation from the stakeholders (Marquardt, 2002).
Developing organisational learning in an organisation takes time, efforts and commitment of the whole school members (Swanson and Holton, 2009). The HRM, as the key agent of the process, should understand the different strategies or steps that can be used to build and promote organisational learning as well as the organisational factors that influence the organisational learning in the schools. Senge (1990) and Watkins & Marsick (1993) asserted that learning including organisational learning is social process and occurs at the individual, group and organisational level.
At the individual level, organisational learning can be enhanced by creating continuous learning opportunities and promoting inquiry and dialogue, while at the group level organisational learning can be developed by encouraging collaboration and team learning. At the organisational level, organisational learning can be promoted by establishing system to capture and share learning and empowering people toward a collective vision. Meanwhile, to enable continuous learning and give impacts on performances, Watkins and Marsick further maintained that after the organisational learning is acquired, the HRM should encourage people to use their knowledge and skills their current practices. Regarding the organisational variables that influence organisational learning building, Senge (1990) suggested eight organisational variables that should be considered by the HRM including; climate of the school, leadership, management system, HRM practice, school mission, job attitude, school culture, and organisational structure.
c. Workplace Diversity in Education Sector
It should be acknowledged that globalisation has given a huge impact on the nature and practices of today education. The greater expectation on education has initiated the schools to embrace modern educational management system and to be involved international engagement. In order to succeed, the schools need more innovative ideas, diverse perspectives and talent that can be obtained through providing wider opportunities for people with diverse backgrounds for getting involved in the schools. With this melting pot workplace, schools will have greater opportunities to maintain quality education practices and win the challenges of globalisation (Cox, 1993).
According to Thomas (1992); Nankervis, et al (2008); and Stone (2011), workplace diversity may include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities or qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience. Workplace diversity in the schools is not only viewed as the nature of every organisation to respond the existing challenges, but also as the new schools’ strategy to adapt and meet the greater expectation placed on education. Unfortunately, in daily practices it is very likely to happen that workplace diversity becomes a new issue rather than solution (Stone, 2011). This condition occurs because the workplace diversity is not effectively managed and developed. In this respect, the HRM is expected to play a more critical role not only in eliminating the viable problems but also ensuring their effectiveness in achieving the desired organisational objectives in diverse workplace.
Although the principle of equal employee opportunity (EEC) and affirmative action (AA) have been introduced worldwide for over than two decades, managing diverse background people within any organisations including schools is still becoming an issue particularly for the HRM (Nankervis, et al., 2008; Stone, 2011). Managing diverse workplace in the schools requires the HRM to revisit its managerial philosophy and practices. Philosophically, the HRM in diverse workplace should be wary that an ethnocentric view, which considers our way as the best way, is no longer effective and relevant. Instead, they should move to a more relative perspective which believes that the best performances or goals of the organisation can be achieved through a number of different ways (Cox, 1993; Evans, et al., 2002).
In practical perspective, human resources managers should possess a well-versed understanding that in a diverse workplace, any organisations including schools will not be able to effectively accomplish their desired objectives without involving a greater amount of knowledge and expertises of the employees (Nankervis, et al., 2008). A modern HRM promotes equity among diverse background teachers and staff, acknowledges and values their differences and contribution to the organisation development. Coleman (1995) maintained that managing workplace diversity is creating and sustaining working environment where individual differences are equally respected and have an equal opportunity to contribute to the achievement of the organisational objectives. The employees are also fairly rewarded according to their achievements that can be the strongest motivational factors for the teachers and staff (Hickins, 1998).
In dealing with workplace diversity, Stone (2011) suggested that the HRM should develop a synergy in the workplace. This synergy can be achieved by prioritizing collaboration and cooperation in solving common issues of the schools. In so doing, teachers and staff will learn from each others as well as gaining understanding that the success of the organisations cannot be achieved appropriately without the contribution of others. The synergy strategy accompanied by respecting and valuing individual differences will influence people’s behaviours, increase loyalty to organisation as well as improving their performances (Moran, et al., 2007).
Another suggestion is proposed by Thomas (1992) and Cox (1993) who asserted that in order to ensure effectiveness of managing workplace diversity, HRM may plan a mentoring program by assigning managers from different departments to coach and give feedback to their employees who are different from them. This program is intended to encourage the teachers or staff to recognise the inherent advantage of having a diverse working environment. Other approach that may be useful is by strategically organising the different talents of the teachers and staff. This can be done by strategically analyse the job and competency. The HRM should view the diverse background of teachers and staff as an organisational asset rather than a problem and direct them strategically to accomplish the organisational goals. In addition, ensuring that all employees’ performances are effectively controlled and measured is also imperative to ensure that the diverse talents and initiatives are effectively aimed at achieving the organisational goals.
III. Conclusion
Globalisation has changed most parts of human life including the education sector. It has attracted the schools to develop and embrace globalised education policies and made people place greater expectation on education. Globalisation has also made schools to be a more diverse workplace than ever. These changes inevitably require a reconsideration of the current function of the HRM in schools. The current HRM should be mindful that globalised education has also required them to develop global understanding the teachers. Likewise, the greater expectation on education has required the HRM to more focus on the teachers’ learning and development. In addition, the greater diversity of workplace in the schools has called for the HRM to be more concerned in developing adaptable, resilient, and agile teachers. Finally, as the challenges of the HRM in schools have been more complex, there should be more attention to be given to the HRM function in education sector without which the schools particularly teachers and staff will be unable to cope with unprecedented challenges. Unfortunately, currently there are still limited studies concerning the HRM function in education sector.
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